Spelt it short cos I can’t remember how to spell it. :evil

So, we arrived safe and well, bloke hugs and chick hugs were had, very welcoming. :clap

Bikes were rolled into the dark corner of the shed so as not to bring the neighbourhood down with Two Dodgy Kiwis yello terras.

Showers were in order, washing done, wine consumed and big catchups about life.

Warren and Chris had two new additions to their family since we were last there, Ziv their daughter is 4 and Nadav who was about to turn 2 years old the day after we left.

Ziv, the boss!!



Chris and Nadav,



The last time we caught up with Warren and Chris was 2007 after World Ducati Week so big changes since then for them, well done guys, we look forward to seeing you again.

Warren had some time off work which was mint so we went out and did the blokes thing of hovering around motorcycle shops looking at everything we couldn’t afford ... it was fun, we were treated to a cafe racer that started its life as a but ugly Suzuki 650 Intruder, this thing put a capital G on Groovy!!!





Also spotted ... NEVER leave home without your camera



My Phone

Earlier in the piece (coupla weeks back) my Sonim phone had a wee woops, I contacted Sonim asking to get it fixed, they sent back the form saying no problem, just need proof of purchase and the usual stuff ..... ouwh no, my proof of purchase is 10000 miles away in NZ !!!

I wrote back saying any chance we can bend the rules being we are RTW bikers and don’t have my proof of purchase with me, I also added I would welcome their inspection to verify it had not been badly treated/abused etc.

Sonim customer service rang back and gave me three names, a phone number and an address to go to just out of San Fran, we contacted them and headed to the address as it was only 20 minutes away.

Large glass fronted building looking down on us is what we arrived at, we had been sent to Sonims Corporate Office .... ok.....lets go in.

Warren and I were introduced to Christoph who said sorry about the trouble with your phone, he looked at it and said hang on I will be back in a minute, he returned with a new 3300 phone and gave it to me ...... hmmmm.

My morning started out as how to get my phone repaired to here is a new one and sorry for the inconvenience, also the 3300 was a slight upgrade on my XP3.2 Quest Pro, these guys took customer service to a new level, thank you Sonim.

Given the above this is a shameless plug for guys who steeped out of the daily system to help a stranger in need. If you guys are looking for an adventure biker style phone take a good look at Sonim, up to 24 hours talk time and 800 hours standby time (over a month on standby!!).



It has LED torch and waterproof as well as many other features that make this a damn good phone for adventure biking communication.

Thank you Sonim!!!, find them here.

Welcome to Sonim Technologies - Maker of the World's Toughest Phones

Or their home page with plenty of other goodies to choose from

Welcome to Sonim Technologies - Maker of the World's Toughest Phones

Warren and I headed to In and Out as my treat for him running me down to Sonims office then back home to make sure Ellen hadn’t bought too much on the net, the afternoon was simply stunning so we made the most of it going up to twin peaks tower lookout point over San Fran.

Some views from the top, famous San Fran Golden Gate Bridge



Alcatraz (Spanish for Pelican)



San Fran central, looking down Market Street



Mumblings of a coffee echoed amongst the crew so we found ourselves sitting outside Martha & Bros which Warren recommended ... and he was right.



After that we headed home for a B B Q and wine, talk about living it up and a good evening was had by all.





View from their kitchen



The following morning we hit the exit button and back to reality, destination Cambria to the Horizons Unlimited Travelers meeting ... Yay!!!

We headed down 101 along the seaside then turned inland to pick up 9 and down through twisties and trees, outstanding bit of road I must say.

When 9 finished we carried on down on 1 again, would have to add at this point we believe (some) Californian drivers take the cake for being the most arrogant, selfish and disrespectful drivers we have ever encountered doing 28 mph in a 55 mph zone passing pullout after pullout and sign after sign saying slower drivers use pullouts and holding up lines of traffic at least 30 cars plus that we could see ..... WTF ... CHP need to deal with these people.

Back to the usual program now, Cambria was in our sights and we were happy to get off the road.

Arriving at Cambria we took a wrong turn, Ellen tried doing a U turn and failed laying Chiwi down for a rest.

We registered and got setup, we were in heaven, surrounded by motorcycle travelers from around the world.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

So much to do and see, so many people to talk to and so much information to be gained .... overload head syndrome to start with but we settled in nicely and started going to presentations, absolutely mint!!







Both Ellen and I were presenters too, Ellens presentation was “The stuff no one wants to talk about”, Ellen had the crowd of 70 - 80 people in roars of laughter talking about our scraps on the Denali Highway and White Rim Trail, I was up the front watching many other couples nodding and acknowledging the same sort of difficulties we had encountered in our new normal life which is not ALL and skittles.



It was nice to know that Ellen and I had encountered similar difficulties to others and that we were not alone, the key thing is we are now stronger for using it as a learning experience and recoginzing that if no one dies then the rest of material damage can be solved and sorted out and the main thing is to learn and move up a rung on the ladder rather than fall off and throw it all away.

Many other presentations we went to were very informative and great so for us it was extremely worth while and great fun, we also met other travelers heading to South America on pretty much similar time tables as us, we will undoubtedly cross paths and we be support crew, help etc along the way when needed, nice to have familiar faces.

My presentation was DR650 setup keeping it narrow and setting up for longitudinally challenged humans, this was a great success sharing our information with others, as I hate public speaking I kept it low key and more interactive with our bikes being that people could sit on them etc, this worked very well. :clap





After three days of presentations, meeting great people, talking bikes, travel, destinations it was time to leave, destination Fresno to do a LOT of bike work.

We packed up and were pretty much the last to leave after getting photos with various people, some famous, some just like us.

Famous people .... Ted Simon ... not us!!!



Dr. Frazier



Grant and Susan Johnson, Hubb Mum and Dad!!!



A HUGE thanks to Grant and Susan Johnson and ALL the helpers plus all the presenters who really make the event, we came away buzzing and not wanting to leave, something that seems to happen quite a bit when traveling..

Here are some general pics of people and bikes

Iain and Debs in their sidecar



Ellen in a Ural



Ellens dream bike with a MTB!!



Another international traveler



An owl



Sun going down through the trees



Finally, Iain and Debs, Craig and Sharon, Will English and us

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Great RR and amazing pictures !!!
Hopefully we meet on the road somewhere in Mexico .

That would be mint, my bike is in surgery again, we are supposed to exit 2 Nov but that depends on how long it takes to get the parts.

We are planning +/- 2 months in Mexico, we are going to take 1 month out in Guatemala to do Spanish lessons as well.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Becoming a common sight!! :cry





3rd gear ,shaft and bearings being replaced. , seems it was assembled wrongly last time!

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

With this time frame we should be able to meet somewhere ; where will you cross into Mexico?

Planning crossing at Yuma at this stage, dpend on when my bik is ready as to our approach.

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Cheers Andi & Ellen .... https://twomotokiwis.blogspot.com/ Two Moto Kiwis Alaska - Argentina - April 2012 -> Somewhere

Hey Ellen, good to see you getting Andi's bike all fixed up. We were in the same boat as you two, I had a final drive problem on my R12GS found at the BMW shop in San Jose, so we've been holed up here for the last 3 days waiting for them to finish up. Not cheap!

Can't do it with the forum SW, I had to cut and paste using Photoshop and create a brand new photo. Are you guys on Macs or PCs? If you don't have PS, you might be able to use something else like MS Paint maybe?

Anyways, hope you guys get back on the road soon. Safe journeys!

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Gene - http://www.RideDOT.com